Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Saint's Inner Thoughts
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At first, I thought Victoria was just playing another prank on me.
Her personality was so bothersome and venomous, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say a viper had coiled itself in her heart.
It was also Victoria who, one time after I'd had a few drinks and called her "Saintess" with polite speech, teased me for days on end, saying, "Yes, this is your Saintess, Victoria."
"Hey, Victoria. Did you cast some kind of spell on me?"
"...Me? Have you truly lost your mind? Or has the fact that you've made a beautiful saintess like me your lover driven you insane?"
Victoria snorted a laugh as if it were absurd and shot me a look of contempt.
However,
"What do I do...! It seems the contract relationship really works! What if he's starting to see me as a woman...! Ah, I'm not mentally prepared yet...!" A second voice, trailing off as if embarrassed. A voice completely opposite to her own began to reach my ears once more.
"Am I finally seeing the fruits of a year-long one-sided love? Thank you for the advice, Heavenly God...!" "Have I caught some kind of mental illness...?"
I muttered to myself in disbelief. Victoria, who I was always bickering with, actually liked me?
It was impossible. There was absolutely no way.
How could the shameless saintess who never hesitated with harsh words and criticism, and who stole my alcohol and cigarettes, possibly be capable of something like love?
"I already knew you weren't normal, but I'll take a look."
With a sigh of resignation, Victoria placed her hand on my forehead. A warm sensation traveled up through my body, spreading out as a gentle feeling.
"No fever... Did you eat something bad? Then again, with all that drinking and smoking, it could be withdrawal symptoms."
To an outsider, we were comfortable enough with physical contact to be mistaken for a couple in love.
From the start, we had crossed countless life-and-death lines to subjugate the Demon King. Seeing a comrade naked or reattaching a severed limb was commonplace.
"Ah, his eyelashes are long. How can a person be this handsome? Did the Heavenly God make a mistake or something?" A voice completely opposite to Victoria's calm demeanor and expressionless face as she kept her hand on my forehead.
"......"
"...? What's wrong?"
I stared intently at her, trying to find the source of the voice. It was possible she was playing a nasty prank to gain leverage over me later.
"Ah, I feel like I'm being sucked into those blue eyes. I wish time would stop right here...." Such suspicion was reasonable, as it was common in the Blue Magic Tower where I used to be for mages to tease each other with wands or spells.
"Did I do something to upset you? This contract relationship thing was suspicious from the start. Are you trying to pull a prank on me now?"
Careful not to damage the flowers blooming on Victoria's body, I gently set her down a short distance away.
The flowers on Victoria's body were a side effect of the miracles she used. They were sensitive areas connected to her nerves, and touching them carelessly was dangerous.
"Why would I go to such trouble for a man as clueless and unappealing as you? A truly worthless question."
Victoria, now a short distance from me, furrowed her brow and glared at me as if I were strange.
"Yes, it is a trick. Because I want you to understand my feelings...." The hallucinatory voice that reached me again was a statement anyone would find absurd.
How could she, who drew the envy of men just walking down the street and was counted among the continent's top beauties, possibly conceive such a convoluted scheme to hold onto a man like me?
"...Dispel."
My mind couldn't comprehend it. In the end, I even resorted to casting a dispel magic on myself.
I'd rather believe an enemy jealous of my relationship with the Saintess was attacking my mind like this.
I, who was once mentioned as a candidate for the next Blue Tower Master and had been called a genius since childhood, never imagined I'd be stumped by a problem like this.
"An enemy attack? Just in case, let me use my Divine Power to..."
"No, don't use a miracle on me, no matter what."
I immediately stopped Victoria, who was about to use a miracle. Her miracles sacrificed her body and mind to make the impossible possible in reality.
"Don't cry at night saying it hurts again. Save it for times like this."
I hated seeing Victoria sacrifice herself, so I was holding out with just potions and healing magic.
I didn't want to see an innocent person suffer just because she was chosen as the Saintess.
The flowers that bloomed on Victoria's body alongside her miracles brought her excruciating pain.
It was a fact I learned after once discovering her biting down on a blanket or cloth, enduring the pain while covered in cold sweat.
"...You're so consistent, even at times like this."
"That's exactly the part I like about you." "......"
Victoria raised the corner of her mouth slightly, looking at my reaction as if relieved.
For the first time, I felt like something was clicking into place.
"So, doesn't it feel a bit empty?"
Standing beside me, Victoria tapped the back of my hand with her finger. Her actions indicated she wanted to hold my hand again.
"Th-this way, I can hint that I want to hold hands without it being awkward, right? The romance books definitely said to n-naturally request physical contact!" It was only then that I realized the second voice I was hearing was Victoria's inner thoughts. I didn't know the cause or the principle, but there was emotion in the words.
"I wasn't thinking about my girlfriend's hand. I let go because I thought it was cold."
On a hunch, I said something cheesy and roughly grabbed Victoria's hand.
If this other voice really was representing her inner thoughts, she would react to this kind of action.
"I thought you'd be this clueless."
"WhatdoIdoWhatdoIdoWhatdoIdoWhatdoIdo...." Victoria's breathing was agitated. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and the redness had climbed to her ears.
"I, I think I'm sweating now... You won't think I'm a bother, will you...?" Her flustered voice reached me as sweat suddenly appeared on our clasped hands.
By this point, one of two things seemed certain.
Either I had truly gone mad after entering a contract relationship with the Saintess, or I was really hearing Victoria's inner thoughts.
"What do you really think of me?"
"A drunk, a chain-smoker, someone who uses magic brilliantly but knows nothing about a woman's heart."
"A drunk, a chain-smoker, someone who uses magic brilliantly but knows nothing about a woman's heart." This time, the voices overlapped. For the first time, her inner thoughts and her spoken words seemed to match.
"I knew you'd say that..."
Thinking I'd gotten my hopes up for nothing, I let out a deep sigh.
"But, the kindest person of all." Seeing me like that, Victoria deliberately brushed her shoulder against mine.
"Even so, I think you're a pretty decent mage."
She smiled brightly like sunshine, letting out a laugh that seemed genuinely happy.
"......"
It seemed I really had gone mad.
After all, I'd just received a compliment from Victoria, something you'd be lucky to hear once a year.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 'D-did he find out...?'
The Saintess Victoria, who carried the blood of a Gold Dragon and a human in equal measure, had separated from Astal for a moment and was reflecting on the recent situation.
'I thought my heart would burst and I'd die...'
Victoria was taking long, deep breaths to calm her pounding heartbeat. She hated how flustered she became just from holding hands.
The contract relationship gambit wasn't something Victoria had thought of from the start. It was a method suggested by the Heavenly God she served when she sought advice.
"[You've been secretly liking Astal? For a whole year? You're something else. How could you like such a ruffian...]" "I ask you to refrain from such insults. Even if you are a Heavenly God, I cannot forgive insults against the one I love." A few days ago, Victoria, under the influence of alcohol, had offered a prayer and ended up confessing her feelings for Astal.
"[So, you want to win his favor in the end? You could make a contract with the God of Love and charm him.]" "Isn't there a more natural method, not an artificial one?" Victoria didn't want to force Astal to love her. She wanted to see him fall for her purely, of his own accord.
"[There is a way to make him naturally realize you're a woman. Suggest trying out dating as an experiment.]" "A contract relationship...?" The solution that emerged then was precisely this: a contract relationship.
"[If things go wrong, you can always go back to being friends. And who knows? Actually experiencing dating might make the infatuation fade.]" "......" "[He's really handsome, I'll give him that. But a person isn't just their face, right? What matters is character.]" Victoria had to agree with that statement to some extent. When she'd fallen victim to the Succubus Queen's illusionary dream, she'd truly mistaken it for Astal confessing to her.
Seeing that, Victoria had been so overjoyed she screamed and fainted on the spot.
"[Since things have come to this, you should also prepare countermeasures against the Succubus Queen's illusions. If you collapse like last time, it'll be a real disaster.]" A secret between women that couldn't be told to others. Worried about Victoria, the Heavenly God helped think of countermeasures with her.
'I'm truly grateful... Heavenly God.'
Recalling the situation from a few days ago, Victoria offered a deep prayer of thanks in her heart.
Using the contract relationship as an excuse, Victoria had been able to take one step closer to the person she loved.
"...In the name of the Heavenly God Lumina, please forgive me for lying to you."
Victoria patted her own shoulder and made the sign of the cross. It was a habit born from not knowing what to do with her guilt-ridden heart.
"Because I'm afraid the feelings that have grown beyond my control will be rejected by you."
For she was continuing to lie to the one she loved.